How To: Quiet Your PC Using Free Software

6. Set Threshold Temperatures
Now for the good stuff: We’re going to set up Speedfan to automatically adjust fan speeds according to temperature thresholds that we determine. Click Configure, and select the CPU temperature sensor. You’ll see two boxes down below labeled “Desired” and “Warning.”

The Desired box is the temperature you would like your CPU to be on a day-to-day basis, even during gaming and other heavy workloads. Use CPU Burn-in to determine what your CPU’s temperature is under full load, then set the Desired temperature a few degrees higher than the maximum temperature you saw under load. For our rig, we chose 40 C for Desired, which is on the low side of the spectrum, but we like to keep our proc chilly. Speedfan will automatically increase and decrease fan speed to maintain the Desired temperature at all times.

In the box labeled Warning, input a value that is very high and would be considered a mini-emergency. When the sensor reaches this temperature, it will bypass all of the settings you have established and crank the fan speed up to 100 percent. Once the sensor’s temperature moves back to the safe zone (a few degrees below the Warning temp), it will lower the fan speed. A common Warning temp would be 70 C. You can also select Desired and Warning temperatures for the other sensors on your motherboard at this time.

7. Set Your Fans' Speed Limits Click Configure, then click the tab labeled Speeds. Select the CPU fan. You’ll notice there are two boxes at the bottom for minimum and maximum values. The minimum value is the lowest speed that Speedfan will use for the fan. It will spin at this speed as long as the temperature for that sensor is below your Desired temperature.

The maximum value is the fastest speed you’d ever want the fan to spin under normal conditions. We recommend setting the maximum value to the lowest setting your fan can run and still keep your rig at a steady temperature under full load. The fan will spin up to this maximum value when CPU temperature begins to rise. If the CPU temp hits the Warning threshold you set in the previous step, it will crank the fans to 100 percent, regardless of your setting here. Before you click OK, make sure you check Automatically Variated for every fan that you want Speedfan to control automatically. Finally, go back to the main screen and check the box labeled Automatic Fan Speed.

Comments

I think I'm doing something wrong or my PC just doesn't like customization (wouldn't be surprising with what I failed to do in the past). Only Fan 1 has a reading of RPM, the others are blank. I think it's the Case fan but because it only sees one, theres not much point in finding which one is which.